Thoughts for the Day

Peter began to say to him, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you.’ Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.’

(Commentary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

We humans can be very odd, and can make strange decisions about who is important and who is not. In 1726 Jonathan Swift produced his book 'Gulliver's Travels', a satire on British society that highlights this. When Gulliver is washed ashore after a shipwreck he finds himself a prisoner of a tiny people who make him appear a giant. The Lilliputians put great emphasis on trivial things. Wearing low or high healed shoes is important, and which end of an egg a person cracks becomes the basis of a deep political rift. They are also a people who love to show off their authority and power. Swift teaches us through satire to take a good look at ourselves, to recognize our faults and try to improve on them

When Jesus said, "But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first", he was also reminding his disciples of society's warped values. The wealthy were seen as being blessed by God and the poor as having sinned. Mark's Gospel has just shown us a wealthy young nobleman who refused to follow Jesus because of all that he owns. This seems to spark a thought in Peter's mind about having given up his home and family. Does he now begin to wonder about his own place in God's Kingdom, and is there an element of spiritual pride here?

Perhaps we should look at what Jesus did not mean - he wasn't saying that everyone who is poor will be the first to get into Heaven, or that all rich and powerful people will be last! Notice Jesus says "many", not "all"! God's Kingdom is different. We are saved from our sin and offered eternal life through our faith and God's grace. Jesus is teaching his disciples that there will be surprises in the the Kingdom, after all God sees behind the outward signs of poverty and wealth. He also sees behind the masks we put up to hide what is really in our heart.

Lord Jesus Christ,
help us to readjust our values
when we think of others and ourselves.
Teach us to appreciate that what the world
sees as important may not be what You value.
Keep us from being complacent
and full of spiritual pride,
and help us to grow in faith
so that we may love You more than
the fleeting things of this world.
Amen.